Russian Studies celebrates centenary

Russian Studies celebrates centenary

The Department of Russian Studies will celebrate its centenary at the University of Glasgow this weekend with a packed programme of events and a major academic conference.

Within months of the first Russian class at the University, Russia was plunged into the Russian Revolution – events that were to change the face of world history.

Instead of sealing the fate of the new department, the internal turmoil within Russia had little impact on the University’s newest department at that time. This was because of the strength of the trading links between Scotland and Russia– links which underlay the foundation of Russian Studies.

As part of the celebrations, the Russian Consul General, Andrey A. Pritsepov, will present a special collector's edition of the Illustrated Chronicles of the Russian Tsar, Ivan the Terrible – also known as the “Tsar Book” - to the University of Glasgow’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli.

The Hunterian Museum will host its first-ever virtual exhibition, based on research by Dr Andrea Gullotta – a lecturer in Russian – into the first Gulag in Russia, the Solovki Prison Camp which opens on Thursday 14 September. The exhibition, “Beauty in Hell: Culture in the Gulag”, explores the cultural output of those held prisoners in the camp.‌

An academic conference, “100 Years of Russian Studies at the University of Glasgow – Teaching, Research, Memory” will take place from September 15 to 17. It will include a rare public lecture by Lyudmila Ulitskaya, one of the most prominent Russian writers of our time.

The celebrations will conclude on Sunday with a Russian rock concert held at the Clutha Bar in Glasgow organised by the city’s Russian community.